The bodies of the two slain sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay, underwent ”facial reconstruction” before they were shown to international correspondents on Friday, a US military official said.
”The two bodies have undergone facial reconstruction with mortician’s putty to make them resemble as closely as possible the faces of the brothers when they were alive,” a US military official told a pool correspondent.
This was standard practice and there was no intention to deceive, he said, speaking to around 15 journalists at Baghdad’s international airport where the corpses were being kept.
Qusay’s beard had been shaved off but his moustache had been left, while Uday’s beard was still intact, the pool correspondent said.
He added that the corpses did not look like they had in the initial photographs taken of the two and released to the press on Thursday.
A wound in Uday’s face had been repaired, but there was still a hole in the top of his head, he added.
Speaking as the bodies were shown to independent journalists, the military official said there was ”no indication” that either of the brothers had committed suicide during the US raid on Tuesday on the house in the northern city of Mosul where they were holed up.
He added that the US military had not yet decided what to do with the bodies, but that it may be prepared to release them to family members.
The US-led coalition decided to release photographs of two corpses on Thursday in an effort to overcome deep suspicion among Iraqis over whether the pair was really killed in Tuesday’s assault.
But many Iraqis interviewed on Thursday were still sceptical. – Sapa-AFP